The men and women’s track and field teams ran to solid performances at a pair of meets this weekend, qualifying a number of competitors for the upcoming Division III New England Championships. 

The women’s squad sent a handful of runners to the Boston University Terrier Classic last weekend, racing against regional competitors across all three NCAA divisions while the men split the squad between the Terrier Classic and Saturday’s Tufts University Stampede.

Tufts Stampede

The men’s squad saw a number of strong results as it sent a portion of the team to Saturday’s Tufts Stampede. Mark Franklin ’17 turned in the squad’s best performance, taking second in the high jump with a jump of 1.88 meters, beating out competitors from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and host Tufts.

Franklin credited his support team for his performance. “Every meet I always have people cheering which really helps boost my confidence,”  he said. 

 Franklin’s jump places him in fourth among all University Athletic Association competitors this year and was enough to qualify for the Division III New England Championships later this month.

Franklin added that for the upcoming meets he “would definitely like to work on getting over 6'4" and becoming more consistent at higher heights.” Max Whitmore ’18 took home an 11th-place finish in the one-mile run with a career-best time of four minutes and 29.36 seconds. 

Boston University Terrier Classic

The two squads also sent a handful of competitors to the two-day Terrier Classic at Boston University. 

Adam Berger ’15 turned in the Judges’ top performance of the day, placing 26th in the triple jump with a distance of 12.71 meters. 

Berger also took home a 27th-place finish in the long jump with a distance of 6.17 meters. Both of Berger’s jumps were season-bests and are 10th among all UAA competitors this year. Berger completed a multi-event day, running alongside Nick Wactor ’18 in the 60-yard dash. Wactor stopped the timer just ahead of Berger, finishing at 23.82 seconds. Berger, meanwhile, ended the race at 24.13 seconds.

“On Saturday, I'd just recovered from a minor leg injury … and feeling good coming back from that made a huge difference,” Wactor explained.  “I also felt like I was at BU to do well, both because of the competition and because the track there is well known for being a "fast" track, meaning that it's easy to run on which often results in better times.”Greg Bray ’15 and Ryan Stender ’18 raced in the one-mile run, turning in times below the 4:30 mark. Bray ran to a career-best 4:25.17 mark while Stender was close behind at 4:26.13, a season-best time.

On the women’s side, Kelsey Whitaker ’16 grabbed a 33rd-place finish in the one-mile run, stopping the timer at 5:03.58. Her time is 13th-best of all Division III runners and tops all UAA competitors. 

Whitaker was one of four Brandeis runners in the race. Ashley Piccirillo-Horan ’17 finished the race at the 5:13.79 mark while Maggie Hensel ’16 ran a 5:27.05 race. Kyra Shreeve ’18 was the Judges’ final competitor in the race, turning in a time of 5:36.46. 

Piccirillo-Horan qualified for the DIII New England Championships and the Eastern Conference Athletic Conference Championships.

Lydia McCaleb ’18 and Kate Farrell ’18 both raced in the 3000-meter run, ending the race at 10:36.31 and 10.37.61 marks, respectively. McCaleb qualified for the ECAC championships with her time.

The Judges sent a pair of competitors to the short-track races as Haliana Burhans ’18 and Tove Freeman ’16 both competed in the 200 and 400-meter dashes. Burhans ended the 200-meter dash at 26.01 and the 400-meter dash at 1:00.51, while Freeman turned in times of 27.25 and 1:01.99, respectively.

Both Burhans and Freeman qualified for the ECAC championships and DIII New England Championships in the 400-meter dash while Burhans’s time in the 200-meter dash was good enough for qualification as well.

The squads will next run at the Boston University Valentine’s Day Classic this Friday and Saturday.